gingers: your muse gets drunk and mine has to drag them out of the bar
( bug used uno reverse for drunk tommy rights !! )
people tipped like shit. tommy broke his favorite pair of earbuds, and that loose thread on his boots was fraying more and more by the passing hour; which is all, well and truly, a long-winded way to say that tommy was in the mood to get drunk. drunk enough to squeeze all the relaxation and enjoyment of life the past week had deprived him of.
this part, he was good at. unequivocally, tommy was great at drinking, at replacing that lead ball of money-related stress with a fuzzy warmth, until all that was left was — raphael. raphael, who he questions got stuck with this job, until he immediately tacks on, “no, actually, don’t answer. if it’s jus’ your turn on th’ chores wheel it’s gonna make me sad.” it probably makes sense. nico’s probably out, with riley or work. ed and murph probably both have early mornings. but that’s too rational; no, tommy’s far past rational as he slings a heavy arm ‘round raph’s shoulders and leans heavily into their four-inch height difference, continuing to croon in that laughter-laden, vowel-dropping way of intoxicated!tommy’s. “did ginger sic you on me? it’s not even that late yet!”
it was. the way tommy’s head drops to the top of raphael’s, lashes fluttering the moment he’s out of the environment of the bar, should’ve been enough proof of that fact. instead, he keeps insisting he’s fine, puffing air from that cheek squished against raph’s hair and prattling, “how’s my girl piper? how’s the family? how’re you?” all the way upstairs, all the way to the door, where he nods, appreciatively, at his house keys until raphael has to take over there, too. the grin on his face is something like ah, my evil scheme, all coming together — whilst also being lopsided and pressed against doorjamb, as he is entirely unhelpful with the multitude of keys raph is being forced to flip through. “it’s come t’ light recently that i’m not very observant. so you gotta promise t’ tell me the second you need somebody in your corner, yeah? i wanna be there for you, brooks. ‘kay?”